A Newfound Home - Adopted by Josh Dun

Thirty-seven

V I C T Ø R I A
Sixteen years old.

There were muffled voices downstairs when I woke up. One was Josh's, but I couldn't tell who the other one was.

I went downstairs to investigate and wandered into the kitchen to see Debby and Josh arguing while Josh was holding a spatula.

"No, I'm saying that we need some of it, too!" It went on for ten minutes until Josh spotted me and they stopped.

"How long have you been there?" I looked up from my phone and shrugged. He rolled his eyes and walked over, pulling me into a hug. "Happy birthday, kiddo."

Debby copied Josh and I grabbed some pancakes and sprayed whipped cream on top of them.

The best part about them was that they were chocolate chip pancakes.

"Debby?" She looked up as she took a bite of hers. "Could you curl my hair?" Abigail and Ashley got me a bunch of makeup and hair care products for Christmas. Ashley showed me how to do a couple of makeup things.

"Sure!" She finally answered. I took another bite as Josh joined us. "And my makeup?" I was so bad at being a girl.

"Of course. I'm guessing you wanna look nice for your special day?" I nodded. I didn't know what my friends had planned, but I wanted to look nice for it just in case.

When we finished eating, we went upstairs to my room and Debby plugged in my curling iron while I pulled some clothes out to wear.

She finished doing my hair, and Josh drove me to school.

I saw Max talking with Mikayla, so I put my head down and brushed past the crowd, towards my locker.

I suddenly felt out of place looking more dressed-up than I normally do.

"Happy birthday," Max leaned against the locker next to mine and grinned. I gave him a fake half-smile and put my attention back on my locker.

"You look really nice today." I thanked him and shut my locker. We walked towards my first class and he was talking about today.

Mikayla's words were swirling in the back of my head and I rushed into my class, not saying anything.

Lily looked up as I walked past her desk and she did a double-take, staring at me. I smiled at her and sat down.

♡

During lunch, I walked past Max's table and he stood up, following me to my table.

"Shouldn't you go sit with your friends?" He shook his head and set his tray down next to mine. Tony and everyone were wishing me a happy birthday, making me smile.

I ate my food quietly while everyone was talking about different stuff until Ruby came to the table upset.

"What's the matter?" Tony asked her. She huffed and pushed her tray away. "Because Lily was kicked out of dance, I have no one to do the duet with me. I asked everyone in the class."

Tony and Allison were comforting her until Max spoke up, "Tori dances." Everyone shut up and I shushed him.

"Tori! Will you please do the duet with me?!" Ruby pleaded. I hated doing the stretches in front of Josh. There was no way I'd be able to dance in front of a crowd.

"No. No way. I can't!" Ruby started to argue with me and Max stopped both of us.

"Tori, you should do it. What's the harm of it?" I began to list all of the reasons why, and Ruby interrupted me.

"The dance is finished! You just have to learn it! And there's also a spot for a solo if you want." She mumbled the last part.

I sighed and reluctantly agreed to the duet. "When's the performance?" I pulled my phone out to put the date in my calendar.

The day before I leave to go on tour.

"I promise it'll be easy to learn! We can start tomorrow!" I stood up and nodded, leaving to go to the restroom.

It was quiet until I was in the stall.

I heard some girls come in, and Mikayla's laugh echoed through and I took in a deep breath leaving the stall.

I washed my hands and looked up at the mirror to see Mikayla glaring at me. She was by herself.

"I thought I told you to back off." I turned around and she got closer to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Lily walking in, brushing past Mikayla.

"I did. I don't know what else you want." Mikayla huffed and rolled her eyes. "Then why is he sitting with you?"

I stuttered, trying to come up with the right words. "Well, it's my birthday, and," she stopped me, slapping me across the face.

"Back off! He's mine and you're nothing!" She stormed out and I held my cheek, already feeling the heat of the pain.

Tears welled up in my eyes and tried to stop them from spilling as Lily walked up to a sink.

"Take a paper towel and wet it with cold water. It should stop any swelling and take away the redness." Lily looked into the mirror as she spoke.

"W-what?" She sighed and took a paper towel, doing as she said, and moved my hand from my cheek, pressing it to the spot.

Lily pulled it away and examined the spot. She grabbed a new paper towel and handed me it to use.

"Why are you helping me?" She shoved her hands into her pockets and looked down.

"Because I've been slapped and I know how to get the mark to go away," I nodded and looked in the mirror to see how bad it was.

Mikayla slapped me hard, but there didn't seem to be swelling, just redness.

"And because I feel bad about how I treated you." She looked back up.

"I know we can't make it go away with a simple apology, but I hope at some point we can start over. It was really shitty of me to speak to you that way. To speak to anyone that way."

I smiled and we turned our attention to the door when Elizabeth walked in. "Hi. Tori, what happened?" She noticed the paper towel.

"Well Mi-" I interrupted Lily. "Just a little accident. Nothing serious." She nodded and went to the stalls.

Lily left and I left shortly after to go back to my friends.